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BLM: Leave trails, roads for dry spell

This week, instead of the usual Outside Connection in which we offer free or low-cost events to do and activities to share, we have something you shouldn’t do.

Officials with the Grand Junction Field Office of the Bureau of Land Management are asking hikers, mountain bikers and off-highway vehicle to stay off trails and back roads until they dry out.

“Thanks to rapidly thawed or thawing snow, the trails on Mack Ridge, 18 Road, the Tabeguache Area, and especially Rabbit Valley are extremely muddy right now,” said Katie A. Stevens, manager of the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area. “We are asking folks to voluntarily stay off them, both for safety reasons and to avoid damaging the trails.”

Some of the areas in Rabbit Valley and the North Desert started to dry last week but this weekend’s snow and rain probably set that back.

Someone may think it’s cool to have a mud-crusted truck, but the damage inflicted now can last for months.

Stevens also is asking riders to stay off new trails, such as those at the Tabeguache Trailhead area (aka the “Lunch Loops”) off Monument and Little Park roads.

“A lot of us have cabin fever, but spring is almost here,” Stevens said. “It will make a big difference if people can just hold off using the roads and trails for a little while longer until they are dry.”